The Wait
by DarkFlameOfTheMonkey
Summary: He was the Remainder, he was the Forgotten. They didn't call HIM Antauri anymore. Antauri was something else. SomeONE else. They left him behind. But he could wait. A post 'I, Chiro' AUish story.
1. The Wait

**A/N: How I have dreamt of this moment...**

**Disclaimer: I **_**want**_** to own the cute little black robot monkey, but **_**nooo...**_

The Wait

He crawled out of the pool and lay on the ground, gasping. His wet fur made him very cold. Rolling his head forom side to side, he pushed himself up with his elbows, then his palms.

Everything hurt. Every millimetre of his body hurt the size of Shuggazoom and half the rest of the star system. Man oh man did it hurt.

He had only fuzzy memories left, short flashes of what had happened. And a laughing face, with burning red eyes and jagged teeth, haunting him through it all. But whatever did happen, he was certain of one thing.

He had to find the one that was called Chiro.

The only grip he had to what he had to assume was his past, was a few names. He could only just barely connect the names to faces. But they were strong names. Names that comforted him, made him feel warm. They lit a fire of determination in him. He wanted to find the ones that held the names.

Actually, it was more the boy that he needed. That boy held the rest of him. A part of his soul. That boy had a part of him inside.

He wanted it back.

The shivering monkey could hardly remember what had happened recently. But he had felt that... That he had done something significant, involving the child. Primal instinct. Or...was it love? Had he loved the boy?

He could not remember.

It's an awful thing, not being sure of anything. The uncertainty can do horrible things to your mind. It takes over your mind, it controls your life.

He wanted to find the boy. To find his past, and to make himself whole again.

Finally getting around to getting up and moving, the little monkey started to climb the steep wall of dirt that made the pit he was in. That was one deep pit. That was one big beauty of a pit. By the gods he wished it was smaller.

But he was a battler, as he had been almost all his life. Or at least the parts he could remember. He got out of there, rested briefly, and started running. He ran on all fours. Towards the one thing on the horizon that seemed familiar. He knew that whatever he was looking for, it was there. It was a long way, but it would be worth it.

A large city. A beautiful city. Well, it was supposed to be. Rubble was strewn all long the streets, the remains of buildings. But the worst of it had been cleared by the time he had gotten there. That place felt like home.

The little animal had reached the layer of the city with all the small alleys and streets when he felt a wave of air. Slightly warm air, that smelt like fuel. By instinct, he looked up, and saw a humanoid silhouette against the clouds, only almost comically boxy. It was already getting worryingly small. Before long it was completely invisible, off to who knew where. His salvation had just left.

But that was fine.

He could wait.

**A small celebration of my six month fanniversary. Post I, Chiro AU-ish one-shot. I'm wondering whether to turn it into a full AU story or not. Review?**


	2. The Encounter

**A/N: I haven't done much lately since I'm back at school, and I haven't heard from anyone around here for ages either! I suppose my writing's getting a little stagnant, in the after effects of Torture Chamber and that. Man that was a big story. And after it, everything feels so small and insignificant. Darnit!**

**But **_**anyway!**_** Alternate Universe! I've just doomed myself to fanciful thinking! But never mind! I'm just rambling!**

**Disclaimer: If I did own SRMTHFG, Antauri wouldn't have come back with magenta claws. A references from sci-fi books in here too, I don't own those either.**

The Encounter

"One Wraith became a hundred, then a thousand, then hundreds of thousands!"

Jinmay's shadow fell onto the wooden crates that surrounded the unfortunate souls. "These are the only ones left." she declared solemnly.

"This one's been marked!"

"They all have!"

"**No.** Not this one..."

A finger pointed at a shivering figure, huddled in the darkest corner amongst the boxes. It didn't look up as eyes looked at and took in its familiar shape, its distinct colouring, and its not-so-inconspicuous tail curving away into the darkness. It didn't look up as all members of the Super Robot Monkey Team Hyper Force Go! gasped and exclaimed.

Chiro was the first to speak. "We haven't got time for this. We need some action. Immediately!"

After some quick orders, each member of the Monkey Team carried one or two of the shaking citizens and turned on their jetpacks. Jinmay covered up the rear with sharp bursts of scarlet beams from her pupils. And the army of Wraiths closed in.

* * *

Antauri sat trembling in his spherical chair. The silver one, mind.

Shuggazoom's latest crisis had just ended. Quite obviously, the recent events had left him a bit shell-shocked and drifty. Alright, perhaps it was more a case of meeting-your-dead-younger-self-shock. When you are time-travelling, you are _not_ under_ any _circumstances supposed to meet your younger or older self! But alas, this wasn't a space-time muddle. The black, furry animal crouching on the metal floor of the Super Robot's main room was none other than _himself!_

Not very comforting.

There were a lot of unanswered questions surrounding him. How in Zarquon's name had he survived? Why was he still able to walk around when Antauri's robot shell of a body had _his_ soul inside? How could they _both_ still be conscious?!

That is _pretty_ vague.

It looked like some freak accident involving a time-machine, or a big fat knife that had separated their spirit into two bodies. Shame such a thing didn't exist. It'd make things a bit less confusing.

Antauri tried to meditate, calm down, get things cleared up in his mind. A practice that he had possessed since his early days, it felt so awkward to do it now. Unfit.

It might be nice to be black. It might be nice to be warm and furry, instead of painfully cold and shiny. It might be nice to breathe. It might be nice to eat. And enjoy it. By Seldon would he enjoy it! He could try getting himslef sliced and diced by the training machines, and then leap out of the way just before he was killed! The rush of adrenaline, the insane wave of suspense and extreme excitement, it would be real! He could have it again! Or he could gorge himself on as much salted tofu as he could dare to try, by Hari Seldon he would taste it and he would grin! He would swallow and sigh! He could feel emotion and physical touch again!

If he wanted to.

And if there was a way. For now, those memories would only remain in Antauri's dreams.

**Sorry it's so short, I've been doing that a lot. Might get confusing from time to time, but I can't help it. Jeez I hate my life. And the weird capitalised names are from the Hitchhiker and Foundation series, by Douglas Adams and Isaac Asimov repsectively. Yay sci-fi! And I am once again rambling! And I'm going to do a bit more!**

**Antauri was like Dumbledore, only less wrinkly! Antauri was like Julius Root, only even **_**shorter!**_** Antauri was like more random people that died in the course of something or other! Antauri was a HERO! Let us celebrate him!**


	3. The Unfolding Weirdness

**A/N: Hello hello hello! I have nothing else to do, so let's just get this bleeding story over and done with. I write, you read and you review. Simple!**

**Disclaimer: Don't mind me. Just twiddling me thumbs and thinking how my life would be so much better if I had owned a small animated television series concerning some fascinating robot monkey cyborgs and perhaps a young boy that should be called the "Chosen One" for no clear reason. Life would be a lot better even if I didn't own said show, if my favourite character hadn't been so suddenly flaming **_**killed!**_

The Unfolding Weirdness

"_Sooo_... Whaddawedowitim?"

Everyone in the circle on the floor ignored the question and kept stared intently at the being in the centre of their group. It stared back, slightly inquisitive, and its brow was creased in concentration. Very clearly, _it_ was Antauri. A deep, rich black. No metal parts were visible. Most likely lost in the Dark One pool during Antauri's...erm...death.

How could you call it a death when both of the beings resembling Antauri were so clearly alive and kicking?

"Ya know..." Chiro began. "I have absolutely no idea about what to do about this whole thing."

"Don't think anyone does kiddo." Sprx stretched his arms and yawned. "Who's for cutting our losses and run away to some nice temperate planet in the next arm of the stellar system?"

"This is very freaky."

"Gibson, since when did you start incorporating the word _freaky _into your vocabluary?" Gibson's accent accompanying the word 'freaky' was a little frightening, and Sprx had every reason to inquire.

"Ever since a primitive form of my friend, who we _all_ thought was _dead_, started sitting on the floor with us!"

"Fair enough." Sprx tried to lean against the round chairs fixed to the floor. "We're all doomed. Gibson just said 'freaky', and Antauri's back from the dead. Great! Just great! We're all done for." Satisfied with saying that, Sprx turned his attention to getting into a comfortable leaning position against the chair. He failed awfully after fifteen seconds.

"He _was_ dead, wasn't he?" Otto asked nervously. He didn't expect an answer though.

Everyone turned to Antauri on instinct. The silver one. The one they had all called Antauri until this weirdness started. Or as Gibson would prefer to say, THIS IS VERY VERY FREAKY!"

"Antauri, you are alive, aren't you?"

"What kind of a stupid question is that?"

Antauri shifted uncomfortably on his seat. "I do believe I am alive. If a robot can be alive. Things get very confusing when you're a robot all of a sudden after a life of being a cyborg!" he yelled, slightly hysterical.

"It's fine Antauri, none of us are asking anything of you." Nova said soothingly. "We all feel for you. It's tough, isn't it?"

"Very." For the first time, silver robot met eyes with black primate. "And now, _he _suddenly shows up. And he's _right in front of me!"_

If the black monkey minded being talked about in his own presence, he didn't show it. The little monkey looked around the circle, meeting the eye of every Monkey Team member. His mouth opened slightly, and he took a sharp breath. A small whimper was cut short.

"I have waited long."

All six Monkey Team members gasped, whether it be aloud or in their mind.

"This just gets weirder and weirder."

**Please review? Just a review! I need to know what I should be doing, what I could do different next time, you know. A review! A measley review! Anything! **


	4. The Increasing Weirdness

**A/N: Yeah, I know, progress is slow here...**

**Disclaimer: Oh for the love of roasted peanuts, you know this!**

The Increasing Weirdness

**"HE SPEAKS!"**

"We expected that, didn't we?"

"I didn't."

"Well we didn't expect him to be alive at all."

"Okay then, we are now in a new state of weirdness. We're young, cute, and completely freaked out! _What do we do?!_"

"Drink cola until we throw up!"

"Not dramatic enough."

The black monkey yawned. It had taken an extraordinary amount of strength to wait in the city long enough for them to return. This wasn't as progressive as he would have liked. He crawled over to the child, the only one not speaking, and the only one he recognised, and prodded him in the chest with a finger. The boy looked at the monkey, slightly curious, but did nothing to stop him.

The midnight primate poked Chiro again.

Chiro arched an eyebrow nervously. He _hoped_ that he could endure it.

Darnit, that poking and the prodding with the hairy fingers was getting annoying. And slightly painful. Ow, dammit, that's going to be a bruise.

Poke. Prod. Fingers fluttering on Chiro's leg. Palm laid on his chest. Then his forehead. A frustrated monkey screech in his face. Monkey stare in the eyes.

Chiro leaned backwards a little. Antauri's little eyes are _scary_. Really scary. "What are you doing?" the boy said at last. After nothing but silence, "Come on, aren't you gonna say something? You talked before!"

The monkey just stared.

Chiro shrugged. "Fine, have it your way."

Sprx spoke up. "Okay, we should probably come up with a name for the fella. Too confusing otherwise."

"And I shall run some physical tests on him." Gibson said. "Just for curiosity's sake."

"We haven't figured out what to actually do with him yet." Nova pointed out.

The ebony monkey screeched at Chiro again, then turned his head and noticed the silver version of himself. Something connected to something else in his brain, and the monkey devoid of metal body parts scrambled over to the fully robotic one. The two stared at each other for a few moments, then the black monkey reached up an arm and slapped his silver counterpart.

Antauri's mouth formed a surprised 'o'. His black self slapped him again. Then he punched.

The monkey screamed and leapt onto the silver newcomer to the team. He had not seen him before. He did not recognise him. He did not belong!

The enraged primate got into a frenzy. He batted and clawed at Antauri with his hands, he spat and bit. He was _angry._

Antauri looked up at the black monkey in confusion. He tried to fling him off his chest, but no such luck. What was all this on about?!

The two 'Antauri's grappled on the floor, and the black monkey's screams echoed around the Super Robot.

**Yes yes, really short again but basically my life's getting pretty squished. Only four billion years until the sun blows up you know.**


	5. The Test

**A/N: I'd really want some reviews for this thing. But ah well, it's an idea I had for ages, and who wouldn't want a black Antauri around!**

**Disclaimer: If I owned this show, I wouldn't have let Antauri die! Or at least come back with magenta claws. Urgh!**

The Test

The Super Robot was in a state of chaos.

"Pull off me tail and dye me orange, they're wrestling on the floor!"

"Statin' the obvious mate!"

"Separate them!"

"What on Shuggazoom is going on?!"

Sprx and Gibson pulled the silver monkey out from underneath the other one, which Chiro took by the arms and yelled loudly when his hand was ferociously bitten. Sprx and Gibson asked quick questions at Antauri, who did not care to answer them. An awed look was thrown across his features, and he stared at the thrashing primate a few metres away from him.

Antauri raised a shaking finger at his oppostite. "He... He spoke to me!" he whispered in wonder. Antauri wormed out of his friends' grasp and exclaimed triumphantly, **"I know what he wants now!"**

The Monkey Team had never heard Antauri yell that loudly before, so they all rushed to the Medical Bay, following an unsually excited Antauri.

* * *

"...bones strong and healthy, brain function normal... He breathes, he moves, and we all heard him speak or am I just slowly going insane?" Gibson sighed. "This really isn't healthy for me." he muttered. Stepping back from the examination table, the blue and exhausted monkey stated, "I declare this monkey alive and kicking!"

"He can talk. I know it." Antauri said in a low voice. "When he was on top of me... I heard him speak."

Chiro looked at his second-in-command. "Well we didn't hear anything. Are you certain?"

Antauri slowly shook his head. "_I_ heard." He looked at the monkey on the metal table. "He could just be talking to me alone. We are connected. In an impossible way. Well, almost impossible." Antauri smiled, a tiny twitch on his face. "Monkey Team, I advise you to get comfortable. It's time you heard this monkey's story." He grabbed the black monkey's hand. For the first time, the silver monkey touched the Monkey Team's guest willingly, and he in return did not start into a crazy and violent brawl. "Let me correct myself, _our_ story."

* * *

"We hold a part of each other inside ourselves. This little monkey here wants the rest of himself back."

The majority of the Monkey Team were incredibly confused. Chiro was stuttering. A sight to behold. "But- But HOW?!"

"I'm not entirely sure." The silver monkey moved his jaw around in vague thought. "It's the way I interpreted it. I don't know where to go from here."

"That's why he kept prodding me!" Chiro piped up. "_I_ was the one that used to hold it! Part of Antauri's spirit!"

"Until it got transferred into the silver monkey!" Nova concluded. "That's the whole shebang up until now."

"We know the timeline of the spirit." Gibson scratched his chin. "But we can't exactly transfer it again, at least we have no notion as to how to do that. Um...'the black one'...may have expected that from us. But we have no idea how. It's that simple!"

"I told you we needed to call him something else." Sprx smirked at Gibson's poor choice of words.

"Antauri II?"

"But he was the frist one, not the second!"

"Black Antauri?"

"That lacks glitz."

"If I was still in that body, I don't I'd like 'glitz'."

"Heck, you're totally glitzy now Antauri! You're the shiniest out of all of us!"

"Little Antauri?"

"I wanted Tauri. It's cute!"

"Little Tauri. It's a compromise."

"I don't usually get upset by things like these, but I am not about to call myself Little Tauri. It's...degrading. I'm sure he feels insulted now!"

"Why don't you ask him and find out?"

Silence at last befell onto the Monkey Team as Antauri touched the temples of the black monkey with his fingers.

"Uhh... He tells you to all shut your mouths and get him what he wants for the love of Shuggazoom." Antauri drew back. "I don't recall myself badmouthing our planet so badly. Or my freinds." He glared and wagged a finger at the small monkey.

"Let's face it, being dead can't have helped him much." Otto said.

"Amen."

"I concur."

"Agreed."

"I feel you man." Sprx rubbed the monkey's back comfortingly. "So what do we do with the whole spirit doodah thingoid?"

Chiro took charge. "Antauri, sit opposite Little Antauri." The two monkey in question listened, crossing their legs and staring fixedly at each other.

"It might help if you pressed your palms together."

Two monkeys, completely different in body structure, but sharing only a life and a soul, both brought up their arms and hands met, black fur and cold, silver metal.

"I have no idea what to do next." Chiro said with a straight face. Speaking over the cries of annoyed surprise, "Just do what comes to you. You're on your own now."

All this hardly-progressive talking took place before bursts of green light flooded the room, and the members of the Monkey Team fell onto their backs.

Otto blinked crazily. "Um, what just happened?"

**Progress is slow, pointless conversation is plentiful, and I seriously no time to pay attention to this thing. Which is kinda weird, because I went crazy about this idea, the thought of Antauri coming back from the dead and all that. And I really want it to turn out okayish in the end, but it's just not happening. **

**But then, we're not at the end yet...**


	6. The Slumber

**A/N: Hi, bye, gotta get on with things I like mangoes there done.**

**Disclaimer: Can't you fairies stop taunting me?! You KNOW I don't own the cute robot monkeys... Stop torturing me!!! Okay, fine, BUT I WANT THAT JAM DONUT!**

The Slumber

Chiro and the monkeys cautiously crawled back to the scene of the 'Antauri's. They were still there, their hands locked together, their legs crossed. Only this time the bright green aura illuminated half the room. Brilliant light poured out from their eye sockets, and they remained in that spot, never moving.

"Is it working?" Nova whispered at Chiro.

The child shook his head. "Haven't got a clue."

"Then we'll just have to wait and see."

* * *

Gibson fell asleep. Otto and Sprx were well on their way to the same. Nova kept her eyes open just to make sure she didn't start crying.

"How long has it been?"

Chiro glanced at the digital wall clock. "Two hours, minimum." he groaned out.

Nova yawned. "I didn't think switching souls would take so long."

"Neither did I."

"Should we be worried about them?"

Nova didn't get an answer. Chiro fell asleep on her shoulder. She turned her head back to the 'Antauri's, still firmly in their state of..._greeness_... And she kept watching.

* * *

The yellow monkey awoke to cries of confusion, annoyance, and general non-morning person-ness. Nova shrugged her shoulders luxuriously. She must have fallen asleep sometime last night.

"They're still there." Sprx came back into the main room with a pancake rolled up in his hand. "Haven't stopped since last night, I suppose?"

"Not that I know of. You got some paancakes in that big dumb head of yours for me?"

The red monkey jerked his thumb to where he came from. "Otto's cookin'. I guess we're gonna be here for a while. I always knew those extreme periods of meditating would come to no good."

Gibson chewed his lip. "I'm getting very worried about them. This entire incident is making me nervous."

Hours more passed. At last Gibson lost his patience and shouted, "I'm moving them to the Medical Bay! I want to do a brain scan. Antauri always made me anxious when I didn't know what he was up to. Do you all remember what happened the last time?"

Chiro visibly shivered.

Gibson nodded. "Then I am justified. I'm going to find out what they're doing in there, if it takes me the rest of my life!"

* * *

Mr. Hal Gibson stared up at the screens, hands on his hips. A frustrated frown dominated his face. "Their brain activity is escalating, then falling. It's almost as if..."

"Like they're fighting?" Chiro put in.

"Our team hardly ever fought over a soul with each other before." Otto said quietly.

Gibson turned around. "This is not good. I think it's best if we just leave them to their matters. Our interference could mean incompletion of their private battle, and at the worst, death."

The Monkey Team left them alone on the metal tables of the Medical Bay.

* * *

Antauri felt frightened. Who would not be? Why was he even doing this?

Oh yeah.

He felt cold. He hadn't expected that. Cold wasn't part of the deal!

Wait, there wasn't a deal at all. He'd just stumbled into the whole thing without a thought.

It was all too confusing right now. He just wanted to sleep. But he couldn't do that right now, not with the clear sight of 'the other monkey' poking at his spirit.

Antauri steeled his mind against the intrusion. What was going to happen next, he had no idea.

**The next chapters will be a lot more exciting, I promise. And I still haven't come up with a name for the black Antauri yet... But he was the original Antauri! He shouldn't have to alter his name! Great, I'm launching into 'Unecessarily Defensive of Black Antauri Mode' now. And bug off you stupid disclaimer fairies!**


	7. The Disappearance

**A/N: Brain...hurts... Spent too much time...thinking about annoying grandmother that's... COMING HOME FROM HOLIDAY! Gagaarghhgaaahhhh!**

**Disclaimer: I need to call in a disclaimer fairy exterminator. Do you actually believe that I own this show? Why am I writing fanfiction then?! I am a kid with no life, that's why.**

The Disappearance

The Monkey Team had decided to leave the two 'Antauri's alone. They were place on two metal tables side by side. The two monkeys lay face to face on their side, green Power Primate still being siphoned off each other.

Until one of them decided that he was finished.

-----

Otto walked down the hall to the sick bay for a quick check on his friends. They'd really begun to scare him lately with all the spirit voodoo. But as Otto approached the Med. Bay, he noticed that there was no gentle green light coming out from the open door. His stomach somehow made its way in between his lungs and got stuck there during its insistent attempts to crawl out of his mouth and scream deliriously at whatever he was going to find in the room. Otto ran into the Medical Bay, and then did what his stomach had been trying to do. His mouth fell open, and Otto quickly yelled for the others to come.

With eyes opened wide, the green monkey pointed at the single, empty table.

-----

Have any of you ever been dead before? Do you know what it's like in the limbo void of death? Do you know about the crushing darkness, and the utter silence that sends your heart pounding in fear? These things can easily send you mad. Stark, raving mad.

Have you ever felt yourself die? Have you felt your entire world and consciousness fall away? Have ever your felt your existence change in such a way that DEATH changes it?

Have _any_ of you, _ever_ died, the way _I_ have? Did you die in the calm after the battle, but with the heat of war still inside yourself? Have you died completely aware that you were doing it all yourself? Have you died completely unsure that your death would help things? Back out...there...?

Have you ever known so _fully_ that you would never see your family and friends again? Have you ever known that they would die if you did not? That's the sort of thing that can break you after a lifetime of everything else. Pleasure, _then_ comes the pain. And then more pain.

The turmoil within yourself, the pain you have to go through, and receiving nothing that can make you feel better or ease your mind afterwards.

That's what death is.

And have you ever stared death in the eyes, gone _through_ it, and come back out?

_I'm_ back.

Has anyone in the history of the universe come back to see a new version of themself?! Has anyone ever felt a jealousy as strong as the one when you know that someone else has _your_ friends, is holding _your _family's hands, is being called _your_ name, and has _YOUR_ SOUL INSIDE _THEIR_ BODY?!

I don't think anyone has.

I _am_ alive. I want to get my life back. I want the remains of that soul, I want to be the only one my friends call Antauri!

You have no idea what it's like. Because you haven't died. And you haven't got your soul split in two and shared between yourself and that, ROBOT!

He's not the real Antauri! He hasn't gone through what I have gone through! He wasn't there at the beginning, with the Alchemist and Master Zan, with Mandarin, and then Chiro. They taught me everything I know. And Chiro, well, I taught him.

That shell of a body is not Antauri. He doesn't belong there. He's not me. He's not Antauri. It may hold memories, _my_ memories, it may talk and act like myself, but _it_ can't replace me.

That robot has no real soul. It is only living because it took my sprirt from me. You have no idea how long I waited to retrieve the scraps of my life. And to see this, _thing_, in my place, that is just cruel. I can't talk to my friends without wearing myself out. I can only talk to that freak that resembles me. You don't know how much that hurts.

But I've put up with that for the majority of my life. The universe and its beings have played hard ball with me for decades.

Well guess what world?

It's my turn now.

**Yes folks, it is with great disappointment that I announce that the black Antauri is now insane.**

**I couldn't figure out a better plot than the one I have now, but what I got black Antauri to say made sort of sense to me. Well, that monologue up there made sense until it sort of petered out at the end when I picked up up again the next day... Lost the momentum.**

**For those that are still actually reading this thing, thanks and sorry. I just made my favourite character psychotically insane for this story. Just great, just **_**great.**_


	8. The Confusion

**A/N: My life's getting pretty hectic right about now, so don't expect much or quality of writing from me. I could just leave this story for a while and come back when the writing can flow a bit easier, but I won't. So yeah, story of my life that you shouldn't be stupid enough to be reading.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own SRMTHFG, everything I do own is sort of abstract, like words...and paragraphs...and insanity...**

The Confusion

"Whadge ya mean, _gone?_"

"That's what I said, gone! As in _gone_ gone, ya know, GONE."

"Can you please talk sense pal?"

"He's..." Otto opened his mouth, but nothing came out besides carbon dioxide and some strange throaty noises. He moved and waved his hands in the air in front of his chest, as if he could demonstrate what he had just seen. "There's a table there, he was on the table before, and now he's not." Otto explained at last.

Chiro scratched his head. "How could the guy have gotten away? He was spitting Power Primate last time I saw him."

The other monkeys excluding Otto nodded their agreement.

Gibson checked the remaining Antauri's progress on a screen. "Our Antauri's doing fine, although the brain scan shows a few plateaus. With his counterpart now separated he should be regaining consciousness in a while."

"How'd the black Antauri get out of here?" Nova wondered aloud. "We saw and heard nothing."

Sprx was back to his conspiracy theories. "This is messed up. Badly. He'll have us in a death trap anytime soon."

Nova cast a sidelongs glance at Sprx. "Now why would he want us in a death trap Sprx? The monkey was the old Antauri we were friends with, he's no different now than before. Lacking metals and the ability to communicate with us, maybe, but there's no reason why he's not still the same old veggie head with the weird idea of putting a river in his room that we're used to."

"No reason why he hasn't changed either." Everyone was silent after that. Sprx had a good point there.

Chiro lifted his head from staring at Antauri with a confused expression on his face. "He could be anywhere in the city by now. But still, we have to find him."

Just in time, the silver monkey began to stir from his slumber.

* * *

The black monkey stood before him. Not the crouching little primate of his youth, nor the one that had been discovered among the shivering citizens of the besieged city. He was the perfect picture of the Antauri that he had once been, standing tall and radiating strength. Rich and luxurious black fur, gleaming helmet, shining metal all the way from the antennae to the silver discs at the end of his tail. A perfect picture of the old Antauri at his prime. The apparition blinked, the white pupils burning through him. The sensation made him creep backwards. The emerald gaze was fixed fiimly on the silver monkey. It felt strange. He hadn't seen those eyes for so long.

"Where are we? What are you planning to do?" Antauri finally asked. His voice sounded thin, hollow and tinny. It didn't even echo.

The standing monkey spoke. "The Great Void, I believe it is." For some odd reason, his voice was strong and boomed around the void in which they were in. It sounded firm and authorative. It sounded exactly like Antauri.

"It has been a while since I've been here though." he continued. "There was that Gyrus Krinkle man, and my 'death', of course." No humour was in his words. The majestic robot monkey turned to look at his counterpart meaningfully. The pure white pupils again. "You remember, don't you?"

Of course he remembered. It was there, in the silver monkey's mind. He could feel that it was there. Antauri had lived through that. He was the current Antauri. Those memories were his. He was the same as that Antauri standing there, despite some physical things.

Apparently the older version of Antauri didn't think so. "You remember living through it, but you didn't _live_ it." he sneered. Antauri had never sneered before he had died, except at maybe Mandarin of Skeleton King. "You hold memories, but that's all you are, a storage containter."

Antauri should have taken offence. He should have jumped right up and given a monologue about robotic machines having a soul just like normal people. But Antauri didn't. Just stayed where he was and listened.

"You carry memories that you never experienced. You hold a spirit that you had never lived in before!" the black monkey yelled. "That's my memories, that's _my __**life!**_"He was screaming now, unable to hold it in. Dementia was closing in. Unnatural dementia. "You had no right! It's your fault, you stupid creature! All the things I went through, you were the worst product I could imagine! Chiro shouldn't have done that!"

Antauri, silver or not, rose to his feet in anger. "You leave Chiro out of this! He was confused and desparate, he did the only thing he could!"

The crazy monkey hunched his shoulders. "He gave my life to _you. _That was a mistake. A mistake I plan on undoing." The black robot monkey, once noble, had lowered himself to the bottom of the barrel. Revenge. A psychotic, useless revenge.

He turned his back and bared his teeth. "Count on it. Expect it. And dread it." The pitch-black monkey faced forward, took a step and slipped behind an atom. The black monkey had vanished, with the words, "I'll be back." hanging in the air behind with the shaking silver monkey.

Whether this was meant as a, "Wait here for a minute, I'll come back with some drinks." sort of "I'll be back." or a, "You'll see me again. And you won't like it."-type senetence.

Antauri decided that it was the latter. So he didn't stick around. He clawed his way back to the waking world as quick as he could.

**I think it's a bit better than the other chapters... Although my fave monkey's still insane... I have to either mourn his death or sanity from now on. The black Antauri pronouns are underlined, for what reason, I don't know. Review, flame, stuff 11 marshmallows into your mouth without swallowing, whatever.**


	9. The Confrontation

**A/N: Hi... This is getting kind of awkward... Sorry for the slow update, I got a load of high school assignments. So, yeah. Story of my life.**

**Disclaimer: What **_**do**_** I own? Honestly... not a cartoon TV show saturated in robot monkeys.**

The Confrontation

Antauri sat up on the table he was lying on previously. The green glow had vanished and he was alert, with his eyes wide and panicked. "We need to find him." Antauri said abruptly.

"Do you know where the monkey is?" Chiro asked quickly.

Antauri shook his head. The boy leader twitched his mouth in an annoyed response. "We need a plan. We can't just scour Shuggazoom for him. He knows the city well, he could have a trap or something waiting for us..."

"I have no doubt that he does." siad Antauri darkly. "Listen to me Monkey Team, he only wants me. I don't know _what_ exactly he wants, but I have it. And if I remember myself, I usually don't stop until I get that something I want." Antauri slid off the side of the table and stood up. "That's why I'm going out alone."

Chiro was, as always, unwilling to let a team member do it alone. "What?!"

"No way!" And then there's Nova, the stubborn one...

And the pessimistic one: "But you haven't got a chance, Antauri."

"I'll take those chances with him, Sprx. I'm not going to let anyone get in the way!" Antauri vowed defiantly. "This is between us, black against silver."

"This has never happened before." Gibson's eyes were wide with apprehension. "Not even with Mandarin..."

"Well I'm doing it myself." Antauri said soflty. He walked out of the Medical Bay and headed for the Brain Scrambler.

Before the rest of the Monkey Team could react to Antauri's odd determination, the sound of the Super Robot's head detatching itself from the main body was heard and it had unfolded itself out into a winged craft, with Antauri inside.

"We're going to follow him, right Chiro?" Otto asked finally.

Chiro nodded. "You betcha."

* * *

He didn't need to use the Brain Scrambler's radar or scanner. He knew precisely where that deranged black monkey was. Maybe it was because the black monkey knew that Antauri would come there, thus that position was chosen. Anyway, both 'Antauri's would be there soon enough.

The silver monkey veered the Brain Scrambler towards the thin woods, at the edge of the city opposite to the Zone of Wasted Years. It was a popular camping ground for Shuggazoom families, if they were willing to tear themselves away from the technology and comfort of the suburbs and inner city.

Antauri had used to come there sometimes, when the Super Robot and the city was too overwhelming. A small and isolated spot, where the banks of a stream that ran through the forest had widened into a round-ish pond before running off again. Trees surrounded the place rather densely, hardly any hikers or campers would bother to look between the thick growth for a nice photo opportunity or resting place. It was Antauri's hidden glen.

He landed his ship at the edge of the trees, got out, and walked to the place where he knew he would meet up with his old self. Eventually Antauri emerged from between the dark trees, to the small body of water rippling in a carefree way, and to the large black stones scattered at the water's edge glistening in the moonlight.

He was there, sitting on one of the larger rocks. His face was turned up at the near starless sky with his eyes closed blissfully, the moon bathing his cheeks in white light. Amazingly, he had regained his metallic attachments, looking a lot more healthy than before. A step closer to being a proud, black robot monkey again.

"It's a shame you don't often see that many stars from Shuggazoom, isn't it?"

Antauri grunted. He didn't move from his standing position.

"It's a nice night." the black monkey went on. "Perfect. I'm surprised you don't come here anymore." He opened his eyes and looked downwards at the trickling stream. He dipped a foot down under the surface, letting the clear water wash over the little flat, white foot. "As for me, I'm glad to be back.

"Oh it's such a beautiful night out here. Absolutely wonderful!" the monkey whispered. Antauri almost felt like taking a step forward, to stand next to him.

That's how deadly he was.

The black monkey would have been invisible if not for the moon glinting off his metal parts and eyes. He turned slowly to look at the silver monkey. "It's a nice night for, say, a thrilling life experience, is it not?"

Antauri felt a tremble run through him standing there. This didn't sound good.

The black monkey smiled, ever so slightly, a tiny twitch of a smile. "It's time for you to find out what it's like to die."

There wasn't time to dodge, or stop. An almost blurry vision of a flailing leap off the rock. Antauri felt his arms come up instinctively. Then there was a numb pain on the corner of his head. Then it was over.

Well, that part was. Almost. In another way, it was only starting.

**Probably only one more chapter to go, maybe two. I'd really like some reviews! But ah well, maybe in later time.**

**Ya know, I spent about and hour on deviantART looking at Antauri (silver and black) pictures. I tell you, he is handsome. Never seen it like that before. That monkey is handsome, honestly.**


	10. The End

**A/N: Sorry for the slow update! Our modem was...well...busted. And this chapter is completely weird too, so really really sorry. I'll just get it over with as quickly as I can. Hardly anyone should be reading this anymore, but I hate to leave a story uncompleted. But this is probably the end, and I made it as good as is humanly possible.**

**Disclaimer: SRMTHFG ain't my property, so yeah. Let's move on. Also, The Three Laws of Robotics (plus the Zeroth Law), and a few concepts mentioned in here were created by Isaac Asimov. Not me. Pay attention to that bit. (I adore Isaac Asimov. Rest his soul.)**

The Cursed Life and the End

He had Antauri pinned on the ground. He had his green ghost claws out, as to not to lose his grip on Antauri's metal body. One of his knees was shoved on Antauri's stomach, pressing down. What a strange series of events.

"Why are you doing this?!"

The black monkey stared blankly back at him and said nothing. He took off his restraining arms and put his foot on Antauri's chest. He drew back his arm and threw bar after bar of fizzling, green, solidified Power Primate, withdrawing his foot when he felt that Antauri wouldn't be able to escape. A green cage soon surrounded the silver monkey.

Antauri leapt up now, as it didn't look like the Power Primate was going to get thrown around again. But he couldn't exactly phase through the bars, Antauri found. Direct Power Primate and Power Primate had never been pitted against each other before, except with Mandarin. Antauri had barely scraped through the battles with _him_, and if he did get out, there was a monkey equally as psychotic as Mandarin waiting outside. "I asked you why you were doing this!" he yelled.

The black monkey rounded on him. "Have you ever heard of the Three Laws of Robotics?" he whispered.

Antauri half-scowled. "What are you on about?"

"The first law: A robot may not injure a human being, or throught inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. The second: A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. And the third: A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law. Do you understand that?" There was the Zeroth Law as well, but he did not mention it, it would bring down his argument a little.

Antauri nodded cautiously. "What has all this got to do with you and me?"

"I'm trying to teach you how you are different from me, how you are not truly what I used to be called myself, and how you do not belong! You were never meant to be a part of the team, you were just a robot! You don't fit in with the Alchemist's plan! You are a _complete_ robot, that's why our creator made us as cyborgs. Don't you see? Even if we were all robotic, you still weren't made to protect Chiro, _I was!_"

"So you're concerned for Chiro's wellbeing? Is that it?!"

"All you're supposed to do is look after Chiro, the only human around, and look after yourself! You were too _limited_ to be trusted to do that. You were not supposed to be a part of the team. It doesn't _fit!"_

"Do you think I had a choice?!" Antauri yelled back. "I am not a robot, I am a soul! It is the soul that is talking! You and I were the same once, now we are separate and you are completely different!"

The black monkey went off talking in angry and conflicting sentences. Antauri watched from his glowing enclosure, slighty frightened. This used to be...himself? It couldn't be. The monkey was mad, completely mad. It didn't even resmeble Antauri at all. Antauri felt that their minds were the same, but its was thinking in a whole different way. Two consciousnesses that used to be connected, now split apart and shooting off in completely different directions.

Antauri watched the other monkey walk around on the grass, steaming and yelling his tail off. Antauri didn't understand the words he was saying, and he had a feeling that the other monkey didn't either.

"A robot is just meant to function, it can't hold a soul forever." the monkey said after a while. "That is why I trapped you out here. I payed attention to the lessons in the Korolladoll temples. The Soul Dance should be taking place tonight soon." He turned around and threw a small item through the bars of Antauri's cage. It hit the silver monkey in the gut, completely winding him. When he got up, groaning, a round, blood red stone was on his chest. When he shook himself, it didn't come off.

Antauri stared in terror at the smooth, flat rock, shining in the light that pierced through the trees. "How did you get this?" he hissed.

The black monkey didn't say anything.

"Do you not hesitate to do this?" That stone was dangerous. On some planets its similar cousins were used for festivities, but none were quite as powerful as the infamous 'Death's Spirit Stone'. If you were lucky, the supernatural freezing temperature of the stone would kill you before your soul had gotten out. With the Third Law of Robotics without a doubt present in his brain, Antauri wanted that rock _off_.

"When did I ever hesitate in anything?" the other monkey growled. "Did I ever hesitate in leaping in front of humans in danger, or going into the fray after a friend? Did I hesitate to lunge at Master Zan when I found out his true nature, even after everything he did for me? Did I hesitate... Did I even hesitate for a single moment...! To let myself die?"

Antauri shook his head. "But you're alive now, aren't you?" he said quietly. "Or are you just a nightmare, come back to haunt my dreams, fantastic dreams and hopes that won't ever be fulfilled?"

The monkey in question just looked up at the sky, judging. He said solemnly, "The hour is now."

Antauri felt the world shift, and he grew faint. The red stone on his chest glowed fiercely, vibrating a little. It took on a deathly cold chill that Antauri was glad he could only half-feel. Antauri opened his mouth to gasp and green light floated out of it like a whispering mist. His blue eyes were overcome with green, two round beacons of light amidst the shadows of the forest. His spirit was being sucked dry.

The devious black monkey was frantically wrapping a length of chain around his wrist, made with all sorts of metals and laden with bits and pieces of who knew what. The Death Stone was a kindred artefact with the chain. In the proper procedure, the victim of the stone's spirit would be attracted to the wearer of the chain. Simple, effective, and totally cliche. Whoever had created and enchanted the objects had led at least fifteen different lives, before becoming bored and dying at last.

Antauri's hands clenched in spasms of pain. If he had paused to think, he would have started to wonder, _really_, which body did he want to be in? As the thought entered his mind later on, it sounded so trivial. It was like choosing what to order from the menu for lunch, or which coloured shirt to wear. In a way it was like that, "chicken or beef?" and "black or silver?" But it was a lot bigger than that. _Which life did he want to live?_ This robot shell that had closed so many doors of simple pleasure in his life that all the others in the world possessed, but had opened others, giving him new powers to fulfil his life's program, the body that helped him kill Skeleton King? Or a semi-organic body that was so familiar to him, but whose mind had gone far, far over the edge?

But he didn't think. He might've, only a little, but it was as his old self had said. A robot has very little sentimental capacities. A robot lived only to fufil programming. His was to protect the Universe. The sort of body he had now, with such _bestial_ strength and speed, was a prime example of a protective weapon.

_But then again,_ he wasn't only a robot...

But the opposite part of his being, the spirit that set him apart from other robots, was being forcefully pulled from Antauri's current body. No one else on the Monkey Team knew what Antauri was thinking at that moment. Had the Death Stone sapped his strength to fight its dark powers? Most likely. Or had he personally chosen to return to the black monkey, thought to be dead and lost in the Dark One's pool?

Antauri himself didn't know.

Green was pouring, a little stronger, from Antauri's mouth when the stone was engulfed with a torrent of fire.

"Wow, for the protectors of Shuggazoom City, we sure know how to get lost!"

Antauri sprung up, the green from his eyes vanished. The feeling of the Death's Spirit freezing chill was gone from his chest, due to Nova's well-aimed Flame Fist Fury. The element-resistant metal of his body was unblemished.

The black monkey watched this happen. He was standing closer to the shadows, not yet noticed by the Monkey Team that had just arrived. But Chiro had not forgotten about him, and turned his head to scan the trees with wide and frightened blue eyes.

He suddenly burst from the dark with a cry as Chiro's eyes found his and met them. The rest of the monkeys barely saw him as the black monkey sprinted and retrieved the Death Stone from the ground not far away, pressing it to his chest. "The hour has not yet ended!" he proclaimed loudly to his former friends.

Antauri looked for the chain in a panicked speed. It had unravelled from the black monkey's arm and was lying in the shadowed grass, grass almost as dark as the ebonite fur of the monkey that Chiro had rushed forward and caught.

The black monkey kicked his legs and sobbed quietly in exhausted defeat against Chiro's chest. Looking up suddenly, faint green wisps drifting from between his lips, he said, "I didn't get to say goodbye the last time, Chiro."

The boy stared in horror at the monkey lying in his arms, as green exploded from the vicinity of his chest. In the centre of the burst of light there was a boyish cry of, "NO!"

But Chiro was certain that no one else heard.

* * *

The cage around Antauri had vanished with his alter ego. The rest of the Monkey Team rushed over to exclaim, question and examine him. 

"Gibson, what do you know about the Three Laws of Robotics?" asked Antauri urgently.

Hal Gibson looked rather startled. "The Robot Laws? Well, yes, I know about them. Why on Shuggazoom do you ask, Antauri?"

Antauri looked pained. "I need you to tell me!" His face relaxed a bit and he said, "For peace of mind."

Gibson blinked a bit. "Well, the First Law orders a robot not to harm a human being in any way. The Second says that a robot must obey a human's commands, unless it involves harming another human. The Third states that a robot has to protect itself unless if it conflicts with the other laws."

"I already know that Gibson, is there anything else? A loophole or something of the sort?"

"Well, a fourth Law was developed. Although I can't remember when or by whom... It was the Zeroth Law, and it said that 'A robot must not harm _humanity_ or through inaction allow humanity to come to harm.' That was it. That was the hole in the other laws. A robot has to ensure the safety of the future universe." Gibson paused for breath. "Now why do you want to know this all of a sudden?"

Antauri shrugged a tiny bit. "It doesn't matter much now." _A robot must ensure the safety of the future unviverse..._ It made sense. It explained a lot of Antauri's recent doings. Maybe that was why he was still in that robot body. The universe came first. Well there was no point in wasting time wondering about it.

Nova walked shakily to the fallen chain, picking it up gingerly. The sacred stone was attached to it now, swinging gently in its V. Like a lethal piece of jewellry. "The Death's Spirit and its chain?" she breathed in awe. "He had this? And he tried to use it?" Her pink eyes widened a bit. "I didn't think he could have changed so much." Nova whispered. She strode over to Antauri and said a little stronger, "It's still warm. It's yours if you want it."

Antauri's eyebrows shot up as Nova put the chain into his hands.

It came to the indecision again. The chain with the added weight of the stone hung heavy in his hand. _Just drape me around your neck, and you can be whole again,_ it seemed to he really...?

**

* * *

**

_It sank to the bottom with barely a sound, the water running over it, just like it did with every other tiny obstruction. The stream went on with life's course, flowing into the distance with the first rays of the morning sun sending an abundance of beautiful, tiny pinpoints of light into Antauri's visual receptors._

And that's the end of it! Three cheers for Antauri! I shall promptly go off gibbering insanely to myself (I assume, about Antauri). If I was wearing a hat I'd tip it. Good day to you all!


End file.
